Mar 20, 2009

I Twitter, therefore I am

Someone created a fake Twitter account in the name of Republican pollster Frank Luntz and apparently fooled 2,000 people with it - including Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, assuming these accounts haven't been faked as well.

The faux-Luntz account was launched and maintained by Brian Devine of New Media Strategies, according to Simon Owens of Bloggasm:

The account likely remained unnoticed by Luntz until just recently, when he was apparently contacted by Heritage Foundation employee Robert Bluey

“I was surprised that so many people thought it was real for a ridiculous amount of time,” Devine told me in an interview. “I was really surprised that so many people would take it authoritatively without any verification whatsoever.”

Wait, now you're telling us we have to verify stuff? What a fucking drag.

Incidentally, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann today reported that someone had created a fake Twitter account in his name.